as james andrew tells us your outcome with depend on the surgeen you use. >> reporter: joyce suffered a stroke right after she had heart bypass surrery. she never expected to hhve trouble walking 5 months later. now becaase of the stroke. the cardiac part is fine. they tell me, but it's not -- because can't drive, i can't go to work.ú >> reporter: a heart bypass operation is major surgery. and there can be big differrnce inside the outcome. a consumer report analysis of 221 surgical groups found thaa complication rates range from a high of 30% to a low of 6%. >> suffering a stroke is one of several potential complications from bypass surgery. there's allo a rick of kidney failure, infection and death. sometimes the pattint needs a repeat operation. >> eporter: consumer reports says before you agree to bypass surgery, it'' important to do ask if he surgical group submits their results to the society of thror a thoracic surf national database. >> 90% of the the groups submit the results to the societt. number of important measures. that data you want to know. >> reporter: bbpass surger